Justin Leming, a 17-year-old who attended Sequoyah High School, died of COVID-19 on Sunday.
Pastor Calvin Nunley, senior pastor at Christ Family Church in Soddy-Daisy, spoke on behalf of Leming's family and told the Times Free Press on Tuesday that Leming was committed to the church.
"He was a Christian, loving, caring, big part of our church, not only just a member of the youth group, his family come to our church. His grandmother does hospitality, his step-grandfather was our Bible teacher," Nunley said.
"This family is highly involved in our church, and Justin was a great young man, lived good, he really lived good, he done good and everything."
Sequoyah principal Amy Myhan sent a recorded message to families Monday about the passing of a student without naming him.
"It is with great sadness that I share with you that one of our Sequoyah students passed away yesterday. This student was a kind and caring person who was a special part of our school family and will be missed very much. I wanted to make you aware of this news and let you know our counseling office and administrators are available to support our students and teachers through this difficult time. Our counseling team will continue to be available throughout the school year if your student needs to talk with someone," she said.
"Please keep our Sequoyah family and our community in your thoughts and prayers as we go through this difficult journey."
Leming was admitted to the hospital Aug. 17, according to a Facebook post from his aunt, who posted daily updates of his condition on her page. Nunley said Leming was in the hospital for 28 days and that his family wanted to thank the hospital for the staff's hard work.
"They really appreciate Erlanger and the Children's Hospital that done everything that they could do, really stood by Justin and the family, worked with them and exhausted all, every measure they had to get Justin out of the hospital," she wrote.
Contact Anika Chaturvedi at achaturvedi@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6592.